Finally! I Did It!

I mentioned in a few posts that I have been training for a half marathon.  7 weeks worth of training actually and I finally got to see it pay off.  The Petersburg Halloween Half Marathon was on this past Saturday in Petersburg VA.  Being only 10 minutes away from where I live, registering was a no brainer. 

Back in April of this year, the hubby and I, did our first half marathon down at the beach in Outer Banks NC.  We didn't train for it and walked most of it.  We've done countless 5ks, several 10ks but never had done a half marathon.  When we finished the race in OBX I set a goal for myself that if we did the race again next year I wouldn't walk it.  Then in July I signed up for a 17.76k (about 11 miles) race.  I trained for it and did well....and by did well I mean I didn't walk.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with walking a race, but I challenge myself to do something I don't usually do.  And I can walk ALL DAY.  And when I say I didn't walk I must clarify and say that me running is as slow as some people walking.  Either way I set a goal then and met it.  Then I found out about the Halloween Half in Petersburg....I couldn't resist and signed up. 

Now the running part didn't turn out to be my problem.  Time to run on the other hand WAS.  We are The Busy Bryant's after all.  I didn't sign up to train on a team because I felt comfortable with how well I had trained for the race in July.  I would just be adding a couple miles in order to do the half.  I did do some online research and read lots of articles on increasing distance safely and how/when to refuel.  I planned long runs on weekends, shorter runs during the week and cardio (non-running) also during the week at the gym.  I did say I planned to do long runs on weekends.  The problem was mother nature sent us monsoon season and I had to get creative.  Some long runs had to be done during the week.  Some had to be skipped all together and figure out how to make up the time and then there was a weird day that I went for a run and went a lot further than I planned and felt like I still could keep going.  So if you do ever want to run a race, of any size, keep training time in mind. 

 

 

  I must admit I was a little nervous about doing the race.  Whenever I run a new distance for the first time I feel those butterflies.  I had only trained up to 12.20 miles so the race would actually be the first time I attempted to run 13.1.  The week right before the race I did a short 8 mile run and it felt like I was cheating.  The night before the race I set out all of my things and went to bed early.  Before I knew it race day was HERE. 

 

 

The race started and finished in Old Town Petersburg.  The route was scenic for the most part.  I did find out the hard way that Petersburg is hilly!  The miles went by pretty fast and I kept a more consistent pace than I usually do with training.  Before I knew it I was at mile 13 and crossing the finish line.  My family wasn't there to see it, which made me a little sad, but I did this race for me and I met the goal I set out to meet. 

 



Goal met!

As I was training for the race I told Mark, on more than one occasion, to not let me ever sign up for another half marathon!  The time to train was hard to find.  But now after doing the race I think it was nerves talking.  I have already looked at a few to do next year.  I would like to keep up with doing the long runs once a month and see what happens...maybe a full marathon eventually???